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by livia_1291



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eremin - Freeform, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Ocean, SO SORRY, erearu - Freeform, really sorry, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 12:29:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9071761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livia_1291/pseuds/livia_1291
Summary: Armin's thirteen years of borrowed time are up. He misses Eren, and it's time for him to go home. [Some teeny tiny details altered from canonverse, but it's pretty much the same]





	

The breath was stolen from Armin's aching lungs as he gazed out across the the vast cerulean plain, clutching Mikasa's muscular waist for support. She was holding the weak blond upright, none of her internal pain showing in her solemn grey eyes. 

"We're here," he croaked softly, and the woman next to him did not speak, only acknowledging his words with a gentle squeeze. 

Shrugging her off as best he could, he stepped a little closer to the water, up to the line where the earth became cool and flat beneath his feet. With trembling hands, Armin lifted a small, simple wooden chest from where they had laid it on the sand, running his hand lovingly over the smooth lid. 

"We're here, Eren," he whispered hoarsely, and suddenly, he could not keep himself together. He fell to his knees, a wretched sob torn from his throat. Mikasa was at his side immediately, resting her hand comfortingly on the bony curve of his spine. 

"Armin..."

The blond could hardly breathe for how hard he was crying, and he clutched the box tightly to his chest, tears staining the maple wood a shade darker. 

"What else can they take from me," he managed, breath heaving in his chest. It was not a question. It was a statement, a challenge wrenched from the recesses of his broken heart. "I have nothing left."

Mikasa couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her own cheeks as she wound the old, tattered red scarf around them both, letting the waves soak their lower bodies.

She knew it was time. 

Armin was weak, so weak he could hardly walk, feed himself, or even read his beloved books. He spent most of his time sleeping now, and this trip to the ocean had sapped most of his remaining strength. His thirteen years of borrowed time were up. 

She also knew he was ready. 

It was not that she did not love him, or that he did not love her, but Armin had always been closer to Eren. When Eren had died five years prior, victim to the same weakness that was claiming Armin, a piece of his best friend died with him. Armin was never really the same after that. 

Armin had no one left on this earth. He had seen the ocean, he had laughed, he had fought, he had dared to love deeper than the sea and higher than the mountains in this cruel, beautiful world.  


His duty on Earth was done. 

"Mikasa..." He breathed. 

He was no longer weeping. His tears had blazed crystal trails beneath his eyes, where the dark bands that marked him as a Titan Shifter were, but his blue eyes were dry now. A serene, tired smile curved his lips up, and his fingers slid over the heavy brass lock on the chest. 

"I'm ready."

She nodded once, lifting the key from around her neck and fitting it into the lock. It opened with a smooth click, and the two soldiers got to their feet, wading unsteadily into crystal clear water up to their knees.

The salty coastal wind picked up around them, lifting a swirl of ashes from the box and coaxing a soft laugh from Armin's weakening body. 

"Hello Eren," he whispered into the warm breeze, closing his eyes and holding the box out to the sea as the waves and the wind claimed the soft white ashes to become a part of them.

Mikasa took that moment to say goodbye. 

She did not weep when she carried Armin's weak body to the shore and laid him down on the cool sand, where he could feel the water lapping at his feet. She did not weep when his breath began to rattle in his chest, and she did not weep when he reached out and clasped her hand with the last of his strength. 

His blue eyes fluttered, and he gazed straight above them, though Mikasa knew deep within herself that he was not looking at the pinpricks of stars beginning to appear, but at something she could not see.  


"Eren..." He whispered, and his voice was full of love and warmth and wonder, and finally, Armin Arlert closed his tired eyes and breathed his last breath there on the beach.

His hand went limp in hers, and Mikasa held it to her chest for a moment before letting it go.

A gust of wind picked up around her, going straight out to sea to meet the horizon, and with it, she knew that Armin was at peace with Eren. 

She knew that they were home.


End file.
